The 'Shroom:Issue 213/Pipe Plaza

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Director's Notes

Written by: Zange (talk)

Shroom2019 Zange.png

Hello and happy December!! It's festive season everywhere! I hope you're all decked out in your holiday decor of choice. I personally have decorated a little Christmas tree with all the Mario and Muppet ornaments I own... and then a few extras because I don't own many of either of those. At least it's a tree with personality ^^;;

I feel like this week has just been a week of hanging out with peeps for me. My neighbors had a potluck on Wednesday that I got invited to and got to make cheeseball for! Then last night, one of my friends had a little party to celebrate finishing up her last semester in college. It was not my intention to be there until three in the morning but a few of us got so caught up in talking about a bunch of things that it just sort of happened... Then my Call of Cthulhu group decided that having a session this morning before people left for winter break was a great idea. So I may be running on very little sleep currently but it is only partially my fault!

As always, we have some awesome sections for you to check out here in Pipe Plaza! You, too, can write one of these awesome sections by going to the sign up page to find out more!

Section of the Month

Congratulations to this month's winners! Tied for first place, we have Shoey (talk) with What's in a Campaign? and Hooded Pitohui (talk) with Awards Analysis! This makes third place GPM1000 (talk) with Mario Calendar! Thank you to everyone who votes for their favorite sections as well.

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st What's in a Campaign? 6 37.50% Shoey (talk)
1st Awards Analysis 6 37.50% Hooded Pitohui (talk)
3rd Mario Calendar? 3 18.75% GPM1000 (talk)
News and information
Mario Calendar
GPM1000 (talk)
Find out all about this month's Super Mario releases.
read more
Poll Committee Discussion
MightyMario (talk)
The best analysis of the polls around!
read more
Awards Analysis
MightyMario (talk)
Awards may have come and gone, but let's talk about the results!
read more
Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox
Shoey (talk)
The Bem go crazy here
read more
The 'Shroom Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
All the latest writers and all the milestones of the current ones.
read more
What's in a Campaign?
Shoey (talk)
Not the Wrecking Crew you know, they got robots!
read more

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Happy December everyone! I like to mention this every December - it's my 'Shroom anniversary! I've been working on Mario Calendar for 7 years now, which is absolutely insane. I haven't always been super consistent with it, but I've been locked in with it for a few years now and it's just such a treat getting to contribute to this community. I'm really looking for ways to perhaps expand the section in the new year, as well as possibly looking into writing some other sections! 2025 is almost here, and I really hope my 'Shroom contribution can upgrade to a whole new level! But, before we look to the future, let's take a look at the past and see what the Mario games of the 12th month of the year are!

Region Abbreviations

Abb. Region
ALL All Regions (JP/NA/EU/AU)
JP Japan
NA North America
EU Europe
AU Oceania/Australia
SK South Korea
CHN China
UK United Kingdom

Console Abbreviations

Abb. Console
NES Nintendo Entertainment System
Famicom Family Computer Disk System
SNES Super Nintendo Entertainment System
N64 Nintendo 64
GC Nintendo GameCube
GB Game Boy
GBC Game Boy Color
GBA Game Boy Advance
DS Nintendo DS
3DS Nintendo 3DS
Switch Nintendo Switch
Wii VC Nintendo Wii Virtual Console
3DS VC Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
Wii U VC Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console
VB Virtual Boy
G&W Game and Watch
64DD Nintendo 64 Disk Drive
MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System
CD-i Philips CD-i
IQ iQue Player
NVS Nvidia Shield
ACPC Amstrad CPC
ZX ZX Spectrum
Coleco Colecovision
TI-99 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
  • December 19
  • December 31

I always like to point out just how surprisingly light December is for Mario games, especially the second half. We usually associate the holiday season with massive releases, and Nintendo definitely does that, but they generally aim for sometime in November for their flagship Mario releases. That gives people plenty of time to buy them for the holidays, and it lets them take full advantage of holiday marketing. And, there will obviously not be many big releases following December 25. I'm honestly surprised that there are any - the initial release of Partners in Time was December 29, but it was only in Japan.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great end to their year! I know the holidays can be a pretty stressful time of year for a full host of reasons, so here's to only the best vibes for your holidays! I'll see everyone in big 2025, and I can't wait to see what's in store! Thanks for reading :)

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: MightyMario (talk)

Hello, everybody and Merry Christmas! This is the final Poll Committee Discussion of 2024. December means a whole lot to me, not just because of Christmas, but because it's my birthday on Monday! Without further ado, here are the polls from November, all wrapped up in a little bow!

Archives

How do you feel about the Nintendo Music app so far? (Hooded Pitohui (talk), November 9th, 2024)

How do you feel about the Nintendo Music app so far?

I enjoy the app, but the selection of music is too limited at the moment. 27.58% (605 votes)
I have not downloaded the app yet and have no plans to do so. 21.74% (477 votes)
I enjoy the app, but there are a few improvements I would like to see made. 12.12% (266 votes)
I have no opinion on this. 9.53% (209 votes)
I have not downloaded the app yet, but plan to. 9.53% (209 votes)
I am thoroughly enjoying the app and think it offers a perfect experience. 7.66% (168 votes)
The app is okay, neither impressive nor disappointing. 4.42% (97 votes)
I do not like the app at all and prefer to listen to its tracks through alternate methods. 4.19% (92 votes)
I am disappointed by the app and feel there are numerous problems which need addressing. 3.24% (71 votes)
Total Votes: 2,194

Nintendo developers have considered making Wario-like doppelgangers for characters like Peach and Yoshi. Should Nintendo implement these in future Mario games? (Waluigi Time (talk), November 9th, 2024)

Nintendo developers have considered making Wario-like doppelgangers for characters like Peach and Yoshi. Should Nintendo implement these in future Mario games?

Yes, I would like to see more doppelgangers of established Mario characters. 51.87% (1178 votes)
No, I do not like the idea of more doppelgangers of established Mario characters. 19.11% (434 votes)
I have no opinion. 10.52% (239 votes)
Yes, but only if they are limited to spin-offs like sports titles. 8.28% (188 votes)
Yes, but only if they are NPCs and don't take away slots on a game's roster. 8.01% (182 votes)
No, I do not like this idea and would like to see less of Wario and Waluigi as well. 2.20% (50 votes)
Total Votes: 2,271

How do you feel about the Nintendo Music app so far?

Jammin' Toad
I bet Toad is listening to the Super Mario Odyssey soundtrack.

This poll was conjured up by everyone's favorite Toady, Hooded Pitohui. Nintendo Music is an app that was recently released that finally offers an official way to listen to the soundtracks of your favorite Nintendo games, like the Donkey Kong Country trilogy or Super Mario Galaxy, maybe even Brain Age? Whichever one you like to listen to, the major consensus is that the soundtrack is a bit limited in terms of its selection, along with the idea that there are improvements to be made. However, some voters do enjoy the app despite the flaws, but overall, the Nintendo Music app could use some more tunes to bolster its selection (why is 3D World not on there, Nintendo?).

Nintendo developers have considered making Wario-like doppelgangers for characters like Peach and Yoshi. Should Nintendo implement these in future Mario games?

Walpeach's design for Mario Power Tennis, posted by Fumihide Aoki on Instagram
Walpeach would have made the Wario-Waluigi duo into a trio.

Fittingly enough, Waluigi Time was the creator of this poll! Wario and Waluigi are one of the more popular characters from the Mario series, which could lead to the idea of more evil Wah-type characters being introduced. That seems to be what the majority of our voters chose in this poll. Some voters did not like the idea of Nintendo introducing more Wario-type characters, while other voters wanted them only kept to spin-offs, as NPCs, or not at all. It just goes to show you that there can never be too much of Wario and his wah-nderful counterparts!

This has been Poll Committee Discussion, have a wonderful Christmas, and we'll see you in 2025 with more polls!

Awards Analysis

Written by: MightyMario (talk)

Hello and welcome to the December Awards Analysis! Let's get right into F3: Worst Enemy and M14: Favorite Bowser Battle!

Awards

F3: Worst Enemy

Hammer Bros. 15.84% (244 votes)
Cursyas 11.04% (170 votes)
Ukikis 8.44% (130 votes)
Fuzzies 7.79% (120 votes)
Lakitus 6.62% (102 votes)
Bloopers 6.36% (98 votes)
Big Berthas 6.23% (96 votes)
Wizzerds 5.26% (81 votes)
Urban Stingbies 4.35% (67 votes)
Cheep Chomps 4.29% (66 votes)
Total Votes: {{{totalvote}}}
M14: Favorite Bowser Battle

Dark Bowser (M&L:BIS) 12.96% (213 votes)
Bowser's Moon Wedding (SMO) 11.92% (196 votes)
Bowser's Galaxy Reactor (SMG) 11.62% (191 votes)
Fury Bowser (SM3DW+BF) 11.07% (182 votes)
Meowser (SM3DW) 8.33% (137 votes)
Bowser (PM) 6.02% (99 votes)
Castle Bowser (SMBW) 5.78% (95 votes)
Bowser in the Sky (SM64) 5.17% (85 votes)
Bowser/Giant Bowser (NSMBW) 5.11% (84 votes)
Dreamy Bowser (M&L:DT) 3.65% (60 votes)
Total Votes: {{{totalvote}}}

F3: Worst Enemy

2D vector artwork of a Hammer Bro
We should just rename this the Hammer Bro Award.

To the surprise of no one, Hammer Bro has won this award once again, adding to their streak of wins. Hammer Bros and their Hammer Bros have proved themselves worthy of it time and time again. While they get all the glory, in second place we have the notorious Cursyas, which only appeared in Super Paper Mario. They're so bad, Nintendo had to keep them in one game! Ukikis come in third, followed by the Fuzzies, and the Lakitus. While the former usually just steals Mario's hat, the latter two usually cause him many more lives.

Bloopers swim into sixth, followed by Big Berthas swallowing seventh place. The seas seem to be a dangerous place for plumbers. Wizzerds, most notable for being nuisances in the Pit of 100 Trials take eighth, with Urban Stingbies flying into ninth, and Cheep Chomps, the cousin of the Big Berthas, are in tenth place.

Maybe all these enemies should put on shellmets and hold hammers if they want to win next year!

M14: Favorite Bowser Battle

Sprite of Dark Bowser from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
The Bowser that almost out-Bowsered Bowser.

For the best Bowser Battle, Dark Bowser took the top spot. One of the toughest and coolest looking bosses in the Mario series, they deserve the award just on that alone. Other contenders for the award were Bowser's Moon Wedding from Super Mario Odyssey, which was one of the more impactful final bosses since the player can control Bowser afterwards, Bowser's Galaxy Reactor from Super Mario Galaxy, and the Godzilla sized Fury Bowser from Bowser's Fury.

Meowser from 3D World roars into fifth place, with Bowser from Paper Mario powering up into sixth. Both these battles have Bowser use an external item to try and defeat Mario. Not to be outdone, Bowser's Wonder Flower form, Castle Bowser takes seventh. A classic, Bowser in the Sky jumps into eighth, with another classic, Giant Bowser growing to ninth. Finally, the nightmarish Dreamy Bowser takes over tenth.

That was a lot of Bowser, praise the Koopa King and his many attempts to destroy the pesky plumbers! Gwahahaha!

Thank you for reading Awards Analysis and we'll see you in 2025!

Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Hello, and welcome back to Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox, a section where I look at Pre-Genesis Wave (we'll get there) storylines from the long-running Archie Sonic comic book. After a couple of months off, I've returned, and that's the good news! The bad news is that it's time to talk about the Bem.

Now you're probably asking "who are the Bem? What does 'the Bem' mean? Please Shoey, I'm so in the weeds on this Bem concept!". Well, we'll get to the Bem, but first we have to take a look at what's going on in this comic, because it is starting to hit just peak levels of nonsense. Stories are just happening; there's no cohesion, nothing getting built to. It's just month-to-month nonsense and it's crazy because there are like 48 different plot threads going on at once and they're all awful! To give you the quick hits:

You've got Tails as the chosen one against Mammoth Mogul, and eventually Tails' wizard uncle shows up.

The United Federation is here, which is a bunch of hidden cities that are now here and relevant, and the human president from the games is here doing whatever!

A bunch of Overlanders (who are not humans) show up from outer space and get radiation poisoning from Robotnik. Then they just fuck off! I don't know if any of them, except Snively's half-sister Hope, ever play a role in this comic!

The Sword of Acorn is being pursued by like six people including a group of spider ninjas! I hate the Sword of Acorn. it is going to lead to Sword Horse, my least-favorite character.

Princess Sally has been dipped in the all-knowing Source of All, which has led every Acorn Monarch for generations. It's apparently all-knowing and will guide the monarch, though the Source of All did not inform King Max about Ixis Naugus' treachery, Warlord Kodo's treachery, or Dr. Robotnik's treachery, but, you know, outside of those three minor slips-ups it's all knowing.

Sonic's real best friend, Tommy Turtle, shows up. You know, his real best friend Tommy Turtle, that beloved character… WHO HAS NEVER BEEN MENTIONED ONCE IN THIS COMIC! Don't worry, he dies while saving Sonic, teaching Sonic the true meaning of friendship or whatever. But don't worry, he actually comes back because the people who write this comic hate me.

Every issue now has a Knuckles comic B-story at the end and that comic is firmly into Chaos Knuckles territory. so that's cool. I skip all of those because no.

Finally, we are firmly in the terror that is Robo-Robotnik. a Dr. Robotnik from another dimension who took the original Dr. Robotnik's place after he died.

So, like I said, there's a lot going on but it doesn't feel like any of it's connected or that anything is being actually thought out. Instead, it's just a bunch of stories and none of them are any good. The comic at this point is garbage! And for somehow it feeling like nothing going on, it's so complicated. And I'm going "please Sonic comic book, calm down! My family, they can't keep up with this!".

Robotnik OP, Please Nerf

So, for our purposes this month, we'll be focusing on Robo-Robotnik, cause, oh boy, he's some bullshit right now! Robo-Robotnik, as his name suggests, is actually a robot from another dimension where he defeated his world's Freedom Fighters. He crossed over to this dimension because it turns out killing all your enemies and ruling over a planet of robots is like super boring, or something??? So anyways, one of the perks of him being a robot is that he can actually switch bodies, which means that the comic can actually have Dr. Robotnik's body be destroyed only for him to upload himself into a new body. That is actually used pretty creatively in Issue 75 to change Dr. Robotnik's design from his original comic design, which was based on Dr. Robotnik from the Sonic cartoon, to a design closer to his videogame counterpart.

But that's not all of Robo-Robotnik's advantages! In issue 100, Robo-Robotnik, with the help of Snively, upgrades himself to where he can now Roboticize anyone with a single touch, with the "interesting" quirk that Mobians who are touched by him become loyal servants whereas Overlanders (who, remember, are not humans) become immobile statues unless they willingly decide to be roboticized.

I think we need a balance patch to nerf Robotnik.

Anyways, if you didn't think being able to roboticize with a single touch was already a busted power, don't worry, it gets even more busted! See, it's actually a passive power! In issue 205, Dr. Robotnik's brother, Colin Kintobor (who is also the alternate reality brother of Robo-Robotnik) punches Robo-Robotnik after learning that the person he once sentenced to prison for experimenting on his fellow Overlanders (who are not humans) was still an evil piece of shit. That's right. He punches Robo-Robotnik… and gets turned into an immobile metal statue.

Don't feel too bad for Colin - guy was a racist.

That's right! Simply touching Robo-Robotnik roboticizes you! Luckily for the Freedom Fighters, Robo-Robotnik doesn't get to use these powers very long, 'cause in issue 110, he's blown up in a nuke strike that destroys Robotropolis, sending both Robo-Robotnik and Snively into cyberspace where they have to avoid Dr. Robotnik's own anti-viral software in order to get new bodies… or something??? I don't know; it's all very confusing.

But it does lead to the brief appearance of hot Robo Snively and, gotta say, I'm a fan!

But this couldn't go on forever, and this power to robotize with a single touch is super busted, especially since Sonic's main attack is speed and spin balls, which he cannot do if it's going turn him into a robot! Now, of course, as we all know, the Sword of Acorn can reverse roboticization in Mobians but not in Overlanders (who, remember, are not humans). I mean, why would it work on Overlanders? That's stupid and you're stupid for even thinking it would!

Why doesn't it work on Overlanders? Idk, it just doesn't!!

They actually do briefly wonder if there's a way to reverse the effects on Overlanders, but the idea gets dropped pretty quickly when missiles blow up Robotropolis, destroying all the Overlander statues in the process, 'cause let's be honest, we didn't need to bring back Nate Morgan. So, yes, they've technically written a counter for this power, but, like, you don't wanna see Sonic get turned into a robot 50 times, and you definitely don't want to see that stupid sword come into play any more than it has to! God, I hate that sword! Also, I'm sure that, once again, somebody at Sega actually read one of these comic books and saw that Dr. Robotnik was a fully robot man and were like "hey this isn't what he looks like or does in the games, make him the more like the games". So, the writers had written themselves into a corner and had to do something fast. And if you know anything about this Sonic comic book, you know the solution to this problem is going to be a doozy!

Enter the Bem

Now it's time to talk about the Bem… We flash forward to Issue 118, where Robo-Robotnik and Snively have finally crafted new-and-improved bodies! Not only that, but that pesky virus that was apparently stopping them from finding Knothole is a thing of the past and now there's nothing stopping them from finding the Freedom Fighters' secret refuge! Except, of course, the Freedom Fighters, who naturally burst in and are ready for a rumble… only to be teleported away by, get this, fucking aliens! That's right, boys! The Bem are aliens from another planet who have teleported Sonic, Tails, Robo-Robotnik, and Snively to run an experiment! What's the experiment, you ask? Well, they want to see if robots or flesh are better.

...What????

For their experiment, they turn Sonic and Tails into robots and they turn Robo-Robotnik and Snively back into flesh Overlanders (who, we remind you once again, are not humans) and they tell them to fight, with the winners being returned to their natural states and the losers keeping their transformed form…

Here's the thing. The fight's over like immediately I think it goes like three pages! Sonic and Tails can shoot lasers and nets! Their robot bodies are also apparently both gun-proof and missile-proof because Dr. Eggman hits them directly with both missiles and bullets which do nothing to them! Snively gives up immediately because, like, he can't spin dash and Sonic and Tails are made of metal and he's made of people.

I don't think this is a fair fight

Dr. Eggman tries to fight back but gets caught in a net and it's over! And the thing is the issue than pivots to Sonic and Tails back on Mobius explaining what's happened and Princess Sally is like "pfffffft, yeah, whatever. Bullshit". But yep, it's confirmed in this issue that Robo-Robotnik is now flesh-Robotnik. That's right, the solution was aliens!

Okay, so, like, this was the solution to the Robo-Robotnik problem? Aliens???? Who the fuck are the Bem? There is no explanation and there's no foreshadowing, It's just aliens! They come out of nowhere and they barely even interact with anybody! None of the characters ever question this! They just show up and run a, if I'm being honest, super biased experiment.. Again, Robotnik and Snively had like no chance to beat these robots. And then, when it's over, the Bem just fuck off!

Now, I'm not giving them too much credit, because this is a stupid solution, but eventually in issue 129, the Bem return and we see the Trial of a Bem named Ceneca-9009, who, turns out, is one of the Bems who took part in the experiment in issue 118.

Why does this alien we've met one time have so much lore?

It turns out she's way more relevant to the Sonic lore than she should be. Like, apparently during Robotnik's conquest of the world, she observed him turning everyone into robots, and at some point she built a machine that can deroboticize people. She observers Tails' dad being roboticized and his mom about to be, so she abducts Tails' parents and deroboticized Tails' dad. Then she was apparently like "hey, rest of the Bem, we should help stop Robotnik", but instead they put her in prison because nobody in this comic ever decided to help fight Robotnik.

Then after her sentence she decided to help the Mobians by running this experiment, except after Sonic and Tails won, she was order to roboticize the rest of the planet because robots were superior. But she disobeyed the orders and instead deroboticized everyone, and now she's on trial for doing that! And I'm over here going "please stop. I don't care about this character! Stop adding characters! Why are we in space? We don't need to be in space!".

Also, this is how they write Tails' parents into comic I guess they were in space the whole time! This is so stupid and this comic is so dumb. I'm upset someone was paid money to write this! Oh, in case you're wondering, I'm pretty sure the Bem never appear again! I do know that their stupid planet is blown up in a space war that's briefly alluded to in issue 170, which I'm pretty sure is just Ian Flynn's attempt to write out all the dumb alien races that were introduced.

Back to the idea of, like, Robo-Robotnik's busted power and the solution to getting rid of it. I understand that basically they wrote themselves into a corner because of their own incompetence and had to figure a way out of it, but this is just such a good example of the problems with the Karl Bollers/later Ken Penders era Sonic comic. Ideas are being picked at random with no looking ahead. New characters are getting made seemingly at random. The Bem are so unnecessary! You're telling me that you couldn't think of a solution involving characters that already existed? You had to invent a whole alien race? What are we doing? I understand that you had to get Robo-Robotnik back to being, well, Dr. Robotnik, but, goddamn, do we always have to take the most complicated path possible? And don't worry! This whole Bem thing is bad, but it's par for the course in this really rough time in the comic's history. The tone is all over the, because there is going to be an invasion of evil alien OCs, but there's also a magic sword with all these high fantasy elements. It is a rough time in the Sonic comic book and honestly it's pretty unreadable!

That's all for this month's section. Hopefully next time I write about Sonic, we'll be in happier times! But, uh, I have my doubts!

The 'Shroom Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers! We've got The 'Shroom, we've got reports, we've got Issue 212, let's get into it. Thanks as always to Meta Knight for maintaining the spreadsheets that prevent this section from being a herculean task to write every month!

For new readers or anyone needing a refresher, please open the box below.

​

Categories that are not applicable this month are crossed out.

  • First-Time Writers lists everyone who wrote their first section for The 'Shroom in the previous issue.
  • New Sections lists recurring sections that started their run in the previous issue. This includes returning sections that previously went inactive.
  • Guest Sections lists one-off submissions from the previous issue.
  • Milestones covers certain section numbers reached in the previous issue. Writers are mentioned for every 10 sections written in a team and every 50 sections written overall, teams are mentioned for every 100 sections, and The 'Shroom itself is mentioned for every 500 sections.
  • Most Sections Written lists the current all-time record holders.
First-Time Writers
Writer Section
ScaryStar Mario And Luigi Brothership Custom Instruction Manual
Guest Sections
Section Writer
Police Blotter Waluigi Time (talk)
Random Image of the Month Shoey (talk)
Mario And Luigi Brothership Custom Instruction Manual ScaryStar
Milestones
Writer Milestone
FunkyK38 (talk) 60 Critic Corner sections
Shoey (talk) 50 Pipe Plaza sections
Waluigi Time (talk) 80 Palette Swap sections
Zange (talk) 60 Pipe Plaza sections
Most Sections Written
Team Writer Number of Sections
Main/Staff Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) 142
Fake News MCD (talk) 148
Fun Stuff Shoey (talk) 148
Palette Swap FunkyK38 (talk) 202
Pipe Plaza Yoshi876 (talk) 128
Critic Corner Hypnotoad (talk) 196
Strategy Wing Hooded Pitohui (talk) 125
Overall Yoshi876 (talk) 747
'Shroom Trivia
The Christmas lights on the main page were introduced in 2009's Holiday Special (not to be confused with the December issue, which was separate for some reason), making them the oldest 'Shroom graphics still in regular use!

What's in a Campaign?

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Hello, and welcome to another What's in a Campaign?, the section where I take a look at various robots from the hit UK robot combat show Robot Wars. Last month, we looked at the solid crab-themed competitor Crushtacean. This month, we're going back to the rarely-seen-on-this-section Robot Wars Stone Age (AKA – Series) 2 to look at one of my favorite robot team's robot, Plunderbird 2!

Plunderbirds are go!

Plunderbird 2 was built by Mike Onslow, Bryan Kilburn, and Ken Burt – AKA, the International Wrecking Crew. These guys are one of the most fun teams in the history of the show! Sporting a tough guy character attitude, The International Wrecking Crew were the bad boys of Robot Wars. Wearing sunglasses and dressed in black shirts and camo pants, The International Wrecking Crew was always threatening violence and always ready for a throwdown.

They have some of the best character work in the entire series, from screaming about violence to leading the crowd in songs. The International Wrecking Crew have some of the best interviews in the whole series, with some all-time great moments, including during this very series where they would create their very own theme song! It's even played in the episode below!

It's actually kind of a bop! It's a strange dystopian techno song. I like it…

Despite their tough guy attitudes, the team was just as popular in the pit as with the audience, always willing to help out their fellow roboteers. The International Wrecking Crew was nominated for three sportsmanship awards throughout their appearances, and they won it in Series 2.

Usually, the robot makes the team in my mind, but most of the Plunderbird bots are just okay at best. If the International Wrecking Crew didn't play to their characterization so much, I don't think the Plunderbird robots would have been nearly as popular or have appeared in anywhere near as much merchandise as they ended up appearing on.

The team made their first appearance with Plunderbird 1 in Series 1. Plunderbird 1 was actually a really good robot for Series 1, sporting a low-to-the-ground box wedge and interchangeable weapon pods, allowing Plunderbird 1 to use either a retractable spike or an arm with a circular saw on it. It's pretty wild that Plunderbird 1 had interchangeable weapons in a series where most robots didn't have any weapons at all!

Seriously Shunt, what the fuck?

Unfortunately, despite being one of the better robots of Series 1, Plunderbird 1 fell in the Gauntlet because Shunt decided to immediately push them onto the one of the floor grates because he's a dick. That stopped Plunderbird 1 from moving at all and caused them to go out in the Gauntlet.

The team returned in Series 2 with Plunderbird 2. Built from the shell of the original Plunderbird, only now wider, with thicker armor, and with a slick black paint job. Plunderbird 2 ditched the interchangeable weapon idea, instead deciding to go full wedge bot. The wedge in question was a steel bulldozer blade. A small pneumatic lifting system was put in that allowed Plunderbird 2 to lift opponents up onto its blade, giving Plunderbird 2 a little more purchase on its opponents. They even put notches on the shell of Plunderbird 2 to prevent robots from driving up the wedge! Plunderbird 2 was also unique in that, instead of wheels, it used tracks for better floor grip. These tracks were actually made by Series 3's Terminal Ferocity team. Powered by two 12-volt batteries with a top speed of 10 mph, Plunderbird 2 even had enough pulling power to pull a Range Rover!

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. There isn't just a Plunderbird series 2 video, so instead I'll include both Series 2 episodes it's in! Timestamps are provided in the section.

Qualifying presumably through the Gauntlet, Plunderbird 2 was placed in Heat K. Just as a reminder because we don't cover Series 2 (or Series 1, for that matter) very often, Series 1 and 2 have a different format from every other series. Whereas the other series are all-combat focused, Series 1 and 2 aren't. Instead, Series 1 and 2 heats start with six robots participating in the Gauntlet, which was basically an obstacle course with three different paths a robot could take. The robot who traveled the shortest distance out of the six would be eliminated. A lot of people don't like the Gauntlet. I kind of do I think it's a neat little change of pace, especially in those early years where a lot of robots weren't really good for combat. A lot of the complaints are that the Gauntlet isn't standardized, so different robots in different heats are getting different experiences, whether it be which House Robot is guarding which path or the fact that sometimes the ramp on the center route was blocked off by bricks the robot needed to knock over and sometimes it was barrels. Probably the most egregious is the fact that, in Heat G, they introduce an entirely new "House Robot", The Sentinel, which was essentially a giant robot arm positioned on the left route near one of the pits.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

The Sentinel would move back and forth in a sweeping motion, trying to prevent the robot from passing, to pin it down, or even to push it in the pit. So, like, if you happened to be part of a heat with The Sentinel, you're going to have a much harder experience for no reason! There are other problems. Like, for instance, sometimes the House Robots are very docile and put up very light resistance, then other times, like in in Plunderbird's Series 1 attempt, the House Robot will just immediately pin you and not let up. So, like, It's an unbalanced concept where roboteers, through no fault of their own, will have wildly different experiences based on things they can't control.

For Heat K, the Gauntlet had the following obstacles:

Left Route: A route containing two pits of oblivion. The first is situated right before a pneumatic floor spike designed to get panicked drivers off course and into the pit. Getting past that, next stands The Sentinel, who hopes to either block or push you into the pit. Also guarding the route is Matilda with her terrifying chainsaw and flipping tusks. One false move, and you'll be in the pit!

Center Route: Control is the name of the game for this route. There are two ways to get through this route. The first is a ramp blocked off by barrels, and the second is a ramp-less path with an immobile Ramrig on the side of it. But don't think that path is easy by any means. Pneumatic spikes sit just before the ramp to mess up your control. If you take the rampless path, though, a giant metal sphere would be pushed at any robot that attempted to pass through it. But In order to get through the ramp, you'd need both the ground clearance to get above it and the power to push down the barrels! You better also watch your speed, because one false move and you could be off the ramp stuck on the floor! But even if you get over the ramp, you're not out of the woods yet, because on the other side of the ramp is the terrifying Sir Killalot, ready to stop you from passing!

Right Route: Starting off with a narrow passage with angle grinders on one side and a moving Ramrig on the other to push robots into the angle grinders, robots who got past the Ramrig would come face-to-face with SGT. Bash. Not only would they have to get past SGT. Bash, but they'd also need to get around a giant swinging metal-spiked Pendulum as well as avoid getting stuck on the flame pit! Get past all of these, and the goal is yours!

The last robot to run the Gauntlet in its heat, Plunderbird had to beat Phoenix's 8.9 meters to progress through. Plunderbird 2 starts its run (13:02) taking the left route, taking a few pounds to its underside from the pneumatic floor spike. Plunderbird 2 didn't panic and easily got past the first pit. Plunderbird 2 then managed to drive through the gap between The Sentinel, with Matilda closing in.

I think this is what's known as a tactical retreat.

Seeing this, the Plunderbird 2 team decided to just drive themselves down the pit! In the post-match interview, despite the team's claim that they're just here for violence, Craig Charles accuses them of cowardice before telling them that they're "all mouth and no trousers" despite Mike Onslow's protests that they're going to trash the House Robots. Regardless, the Plunderbird team is through with a score of 10.5 meters! By the way, this all leads to probably my favorite backstage segment of all time. After the Gauntlet, the International Wrecking Crew members are being interviewed by Phillipa and all the other roboteers start making chicken noises at them, so Mike Onslow just yells out "SILENCE! How dare you! We're back and we're gonna stay! More violence!".

Luckily for Plunderbird 2 they'd get their chance at having a go at the House Robots in the trial round. So basically, the second round of Series 1 and 2 was like a Mario Party minigame. Each episode had a different event the robots participated in, with the robot with the lowest score being eliminated. Some of the various events were things like Skittles, where the point was to knock down barrels and Tug of War, where the goal was to not pulled the farthest by a House Robot. Heat K featured the classic children's game King of the Castle, where a robot would start in the center of a specially-built ring and face off against two House Robots, SGT. Bash and Dead Metal. The goal was to avoid getting pushed off the platform by the House Robots for 30 seconds, with the robot who was on the platform the least amount of time being eliminated. Once again, Plunderbird 2 went last, needing to beat the adorable Mega Hurts' 22.2 seconds in order to advance. Plunderbird 2 began its trial (19:34) by actually getting under Dead Metal, pushing it into the sumo style bumpers littered around the area. Dead Metal would escape and SGT. Bash would come in for an attack, but Plunderbird 2 managed to skillfully drive around the sergeant.

Now that's what I call VIOLENCE!

Plunderbird 2 then got under the side of Dead Metal and with a mighty shove pushed Dead Metal out of the ring! Plunderbird 2 would follow this up by tricking a pursuing SGT. Bash into driving itself right off the edge, making Plunderbird 2 the only robot in King of the Castle history to actually come out victorious and making good on Mike Onslow's promise to give the House Robots a good thrashing! In the post-match interview, Mike Onslow would promise there'd be more damage in the arena!

Now that there are only four robots left, the Heat shifts to the familiar arena phase we all know and love. Now sporting decals with Sgt. Bash and Dead Metal's names crossed out, Plunderbird 2 would face off against Enzyme in its first fight. Plunderbird 2 starts the fight (23:40) charging right into Enzyme, easily getting under the miles of ground clearance Enzyme has (a lot of robots in the first three series had high ground clearances for Gauntlet purposes). Enzyme manages to drive off briefly and meets Plunderbird 2 front-to-front. But Plunderbird 2's superior steel wedge allowed it to get under Enzyme, now fully trapping the machine on top of its wedge. Plunderbird 2 drives Enzyme into the zone of death that is, well, most of the arena, because in Series 2 they decided that every wall of the arena should be a CPZ so like a quarter of the arena is just a House Robot death zone.

Plunderbird taking Enzyme to the zone of death

With Enzyme stuck on the wedge, SGT. Bash comes in and gets a few attacks with its circular saw arm as Enzyme tried to push Plunderbird 2 back with little luck. For a brief period, the two robots seem to be stuck on each other, but finally Plunderbird 2 gets free and drives away, leaving Enzyme stuck in the CPZ getting attacked by SGT. Bash and Shunt. Enzyme manages to free itself from the zone as the ten-second timer appears. Enzyme pursues Plunderbird 2, getting in a few bumps as the fight goes to the judges. Looking at style, control, damage, and aggression, it's an easy decision and the fight goes to Plunderbird 2!

Now in the Heat Final and having added an Enzyme decal to their shell, Plunderbird 2 would face off against Roger Plant's The Mule. Winner of the best-engineered award, The Mule is quite the interesting robot, featuring small forklift-style lifters as well as kicking legs that can, in theory, kick over a robot.

I mean, what even is this?

It's a very odd but interesting weapon system, the kind of thing that you could only find in the charming early days of robot combat when nobody knows what the fuck they're doing! The Heat Final (26:04) starts with Plunderbird 2 getting under The Mule as The Mule attempts but misses lifting up Plunderbird 2 with its forklift arm. Plunderbird 2 briefly manages to push The Mule around, but the Mule is able to get a lift in on its forklift arm, lifting Plunderbird up just a little bit and allowing it to escape. The Mule would then come on the attack, ramming into Plunderbird 2's front before spinning around and attempting to get its kicking legs in the fight. The two robots disengage from each other before Plunderbird 2 comes back in on the attack, getting completely under the front of The Mule. Plunderbird 2 begins driving The Mule around the arena, nearly pitting them, but they just don't have the right angle.

Wedge beats kicking legs!

The Mule manages to escape and both robots drive into the death zone, where Plunderbird 2 takes an axe blow from Shunt as the timer beings to count down. The fight ends with Plunderbird managing to get under The Mule one last time before going to the judges. Looking at style, control, damage, and aggression, it's not very close and the fight goes to Plunderbird 2, sending the International Wrecking Crew into the semi-finals!

Having won one of the last heats, Plunderbird 2 was placed in Semi-Final B along with Roadblock, Cassius, King Buxton, G.B.H, and Hardvarck. The semi-finals in this series operated the same as the heats. so there's a Gauntlet round, a trial round, and finally an arena round with the winners of the two arena fights going on to the Grand Final.

The International Wrecking Crew warming up the audience.

There's a great little detail to share here. They say it's before Plunderbird's run, but I would imagine it was actually while they were setting up the arena for the Gauntlet run in general, but to kill time while they're setting it up, the producers sent The International Wrecking Crew out there to entertain the crowd, which The International Wrecking Crew did by leading them through their theme song (9:18 second video)! It's the best! This team is the best! I love them!

The fact that we start with a Gauntlet round is bad news for The International Wrecking Crew, who have so far done two different runs and never finished above 5th, but this one is weird because, despite having very good robots in it, none of them besides King Buxton have done any good. Plunderbird was the fifth robot to do the Gauntlet, needing to only progress more than 5.15 meters to avoid being eliminated. In fact, 6.6 meters would have given them second place. Remember if you will that, in Plunderbird 2's own heat, 8.9 meters got Phoenix eliminated.

As this is the semi-final, they added new stuff to the Gauntlet. They didn't touch the right path, it appears, but they replaced the barrels on the center route with a stack of bricks. They also added a pit of oblivion to the center route, so if you fall off the ramp you'll fall into a pit. They also added 360 degrees of motion to The Sentinel, allowing him to guard both the ramp on the center route and the left route, blocking robots from passing or pushing them into the pits!

In its run (10:30), Plunderbird 2 would take on the center route, easily bursting through the bricks and past the metal sphere. I think what they wanted to do, needing to get past on 5.15 meters, was to pit themselves just like they did in their heat. But unfortunately, Shunt blocks them from the pit… for some reason? So Plunderbird 2 decides to try another route. But Shunt pursues for some reason even though Shunt is supposed to be guarding the center route. And not only does Shunt pursue, Shunt pushes Plunderbird all the way back to the start and just pins it. It's honestly ridiculous, because it's one thing when you pin them on the route you're designated to protect, but to fucking refuse to let them do the Gauntlet is bad balance and it's terrible television because there's nothing Plunderbird 2 can do to escape because Shunt just doesn't let it.

I ask again. Shunt, what the fuck?

So, at the end of the run, Plunderbird 2 only moves 0.9 meters because the House Robots just fucked 'em, and I think the producers realized what a terrible mistake that killing one of their funniest and most entertaining teams was, because in the final run I think they absolutely told the House Robots drivers to do everything in their power to push Hardvarck back enough to where Plunderbird 2 could squeeze through. But they aren't able to and Plunderbird 2 goes out in another Gauntlet run where Shunt just refused to let them do the goddamn Gauntlet!

I don't know how much farther Plunderbird 2 gets if they do get out of the Gauntlet round. The next round was Pinball, and everybody did really good at it. They would have had to beaten 145 points, which is a lot of points. But if they did get past Pinball, then I give them a decent of making the Grand Final.

Let's get it out of the way - they aren't beating Roadblock. Roadblock was still probably the best robot in the field and was honestly probably an unfortunate breakdown in the Grand Final against Cassius away from beating Panic Attack and being back-to-back champion.

I give them a good chance against King Buxton; even though I think King Buxton was better, from what I remember from the Robot Wars History podcast, the motors of King Buxton were on borrowed time and in the real timeline they burned out in the arena stage of this semi-final anyways. So Plunderbird 2 probably beats them in a fight.

Cassius is an interesting one where one flip from Cassius could beat Plunderbird 2, but Plunderbird 2 had the better driver and was lower on the ground, and Cassius liked to play with its competitors anyways. So I could see Plunderbird 2 beating Cassius even if it wouldn't be the favorite. Regardless, Plunderbird 2 is a solid Series 2 machine, probably among the ten best in the field, and it could have gone further with just a little more luck.

The International Wrecking Crew returned for Series 3 with Plunderstorm, a robot featuring a similar design. Its weapon was supposed to be a circular saw, but because of the hardened blade rule, they were forced to remove it. Not that it really mattered. One of the tracks of Plunderstorm seized immediately, so it lost drive on one side. This would lead to another great Plunderbird moment where, in the post-match interview, the team would rap "The forecast's bad. / You better keep running. / It's gonna be tough. There's a Plunderstorm coming! - Next year!".

In Series 4, they went back to the numbered naming with Plunderbird 4, who was actually a seeded machine! It was given the 26th seed, which you could argue is dumb, but, like, again, there's 32 seeds in Series 4! At a certain point, meh robots are going to have to get seeded. Plunderbird 4 introduced probably the most iconic weapon they had, the "Plunderthocker", AKA a really bad crusher claw. Plunderbird 4 did alright, losing in the second round of its heat and finishing 3rd place in the Tag Team Terror.

Where did they get an attack helicopter?!?

The most notable thing about Plunderbird 4 was that the team introduced it by driving it out of an actual attack helicopter!

In Series 5 and Extreme 1, the team had their final robot, Plunderbird 5. Featuring a similar design to Plunderbird 4 but with a black paint job, this version is probably the most famous, appearing in both a video game and being given its own toy. But this merch didn't lead to success, with Plunderbird 5 winning only one of its five fights. The robot was featured heavily in Extreme 1, having three fights including two different "vengeance battles", one with Mega Morg over who was the best singer (which they won) and another with Sir Chromalot over who was the best showman (which they lost). They also participated in the House Robot Rebellion, being pitted by Shunt. They were supposed to make even more appearances, such as teaming again with Bigger Brother in the Tag Team Terror, but they, well, crashed into the entrance gate before the fight, forcing them to withdrawal and causing Mike Onslow to quip "I told you I wanted to go in first, mate".

To shreds, you say?

I think they got so many appearances in Extreme 1 because it was more a wrestling-style show with a lot more focus on pretend rivalries and interviews, and the Plunderbird team was just so good at that kind of thing. Their last appearance would be in the first round of Series 5, where their robot was torn to absolute shreds by S3, leading to Mike Onslow to quip that he now had a clusterbot.

The International Wrecking Crew was the classic comedy team. They weren't a full comedy team because there was a time where their robots really were competitive, but it was clear the team had no real interest in building robots to fit the meta, and were instead doing this because it was fun and they enjoyed it. Like I said earlier, this is a rare example where the team is more important than the robot. They were always great fun and more importantly they were always fantastic for television. And much like Napalm winning a heat in Series 2 or Diotoir winning the Extreme 1 Tag Team Championship, I'm glad they managed to have some genuine success in their roboteer careers!

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The 'Shroom: Issue 213
Staff sections Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • End-of-the-Year Awards • Director Election • Credits
Features Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing
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